


DLC (Does Like Cats)

by Snapped_Writing_Quill



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Brief mention of a cat getting sick but she's okay, Gen, General Audiences - Freeform, I'm putting it here because I would want to know before getting invested also, minor spoilers for seteth's true identity, the cat lives I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25987078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snapped_Writing_Quill/pseuds/Snapped_Writing_Quill
Summary: Look, I like cats, and I like Fire Emblem, so when the DLC update let you interact with them, I almost went bananas.The obvious answer was to write a cute ficlet about Seteth finding out that Byleth:A) Has definite fishing prowessB) Uses it to feed the catsSet in the early months of Byleth's employment at Garreg Mach, when they're still starting to feel each other out.
Kudos: 10





	DLC (Does Like Cats)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr and Twitter as Snapped_Writing_Quill (@SnappedQ) if you want to follow me there for fic updates!

Seteth hurried along the Church grounds, scanning around for the former mercenary.

The Archbishop had tasked him with finding the professor and providing this month's funding a bit earlier than usual, so that Byleth could procure some of the harder-to-obtain supplies for their upcoming mission.

After looking for him in his classroom, personal quarters, and even fruitlessly scouring the dining hall after Flayn had mentioned seeing the professor in there with a plate full of fish, Seteth had begun searching various areas of the monastery at random, hoping that Byleth would suddenly appear.

Eventually, Seteth found him outside of the stables, surrounded by cats- specifically, a mother cat and her kittens.

"Professor?"

"Yes?"

"What on earth are you doing?"

"I am... simply caring for creatures beloved by the Goddess. And making sure that such creatures are fed."

Rhea's advisor looked upwards towards the sky, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Allow me to rephrase the question. _Why_ are you feeding these cats your lunch?"

He looked back down to find Byleth looking away, a guilty expression across his features, "They still look too underweight for their age. Also, their mother kept getting beaten up by some of the bigger cats closer to the monastery, so it’s safer to feed them here, away from the others."

The younger man lifted a scrappy-looking, solid grey kitten up to Seteth, "Want to pet him?"

Momentarily swayed by the adorable face peeking up at him, Seteth gingerly extended his finger towards the kitten’s head, attempting to stroke its ear. It hissed at him instead, prompting Seteth to quickly withdraw his hand.

"Oh! My apologies, I shouldn't have started you off with this one since he can be a bit feisty sometimes. I had gotten comfortable with him and forgot how difficult he can be with strangers. But don’t worry about it! I had to make several attempts to get him to warm up to me as well."

Byleth pointed to another kitten, solid white and fluffy, perched on a bale of hay next to the stable doors. "Why don't you try that one over there? She's _very_ sweet, and her fur is so soft! You’d never guess that she’s a stable cat, because of her docile temperament."

Seteth hesitated.

Byleth saw his pause and reassured him, "Seriously, she won't hurt you- she was the first one to come up to me, even before her mother! If you want, I still have some pieces of fish left that you can use to win her over if you're still not sure."

The professor held out his plate, entreating the other man to give it a try.

After a moment, Seteth took a piece of herring and crouched down on the ground a few feet away from where the kitten was watching him, her bright green eyes locked onto the piece of fish in his hand.

He held out the offering, and the kitten lifted her nose, sniffing in the advisor’s direction.

Seteth waited.

After a few moments, the kitten walked towards him, tail straight up in the air.

Stopping a few inches in front of the advisor, she looked up at the fish, then at the man holding it, deliberating.

Seteth didn’t move a muscle.

Deciding that he was trustworthy, the kitten closed the gap and took the offering from the advisor's hand, munching happily as he began to gently pet the top of her head.

It only took a few minutes before Seteth was able to hold the small baby in his arms, scratching the back of her neck and ears while she purred and kneaded the fabric on his sleeves, poking small holes in the silky material.

The advisor held her for a few minutes, simply enjoying the feeling of holding a contented cat in his arms before he remembered that he had been sent to find Byleth for a reason.

"Oh! Professor, I had almost forgotten- the Archbishop has sent me along with your monthly funds a bit early this moon. She said that you would require the extra time to prepare appropriately, and so I am meant to deliver those to you."

As he spoke, Seteth tried to shift the kitten over to one arm while he fumbled around his belt for the appropriate pouch.

The kitten, it seemed, had other ideas.

Every time the advisor tried to move her over to his left arm, she would insistently hook her claws in the right sleeve of his robes, refusing to move.

After two unsuccessful tries to transfer the kitten, Byleth decided to have mercy on the struggling man.

"I can hold Cethleann, if it would help", he offered, walking over towards the duo.

Seteth almost dropped the kitten completely, "I'm sorry, _what_ did you just call her?"

An awkward silence fell between the two of them as Byleth registered that it probably hadn’t been the best idea to openly admit to the Archbishop's right-hand man that he had named a litter of kittens after four prominent figures of the Church. Well, too late for it now.

The professor cleared his throat, "Y-yes, um…that one is Cethleann, and the big black-and-white kitten next to his mom is Indech. The grey and white one laying in the sun over there is Maucil, and the angry one that hissed at you is-"

"Cichol, I assume?"

"Yes."

_Of course. I get the mean one._

Seteth rubbed his temples with the hand that wasn't currently holding Cetheleann.

_Goddess above, why was Byleth hired to be a professor? Why did Rhea think this was a good idea?_

The advisor paused as he processed the information-

_Hang on, that was only four cats._

Oh no, did he _want_ to know what the mother cat's name was?

Surely the professor didn't name it what he suspected.

Despite his internal turmoil, Seteth's curiosity got the better of him, "Byleth...pray tell, what did you name their mother?"

_Not Sothis._

_I swear to her namesake myself, you had better not have named her Sothis._

"Oh! I had forgotten. Her name is Fodie."

Seteth slowly let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding.

_Thank you for having the common decency not to name a stray cat after the Goddess._

As he lowered his hand to absentmindedly scratch behind Cethleann's ears, the advisor pressed Byleth to clarify, "You...named her after the land? It’s not a bad name, but I will admit that it is a bit unusual."

Byleth shrugged, a strikingly informal gesture for someone in his position, "I guess that also, but she was mainly named after the first fish I ever caught for her."

Seeing the baffled look on Seteth’s face, the professor elaborated, "It was part of how I met her, actually. I was out on the fishing pier around a few other people after classes had finished for the day, and Fodie came running out of the greenhouse, looking frantic after what sounded like a fight with one of the other cats. She wouldn't come anywhere near me when I called out to her, but she sat near the edge of the pond and watched me for a bit while she cleaned her wounds. I assumed that she had wandered in trying to find some food, because the poor girl looked like she was starving. Despite her long fur, it was obvious that she was underweight, pregnant, and not feeling well because her coat was pretty dingy and unkempt. So, I told her that the next fish I caught would be her dinner. Not even ten minutes later, I felt a tug on my line and after a bit of back and forth, wound up pulling out a large, odd-looking fish."

"A...Fodlandy." Seteth said flatly, the pieces clicking into place.

"Yes."

"Now I _know_ that you’re lying to me, professor. No one simply "pulls out" a Fodlandy, they’re _very_ difficult to catch, and only a lucky few have ever managed to see one, much less successfully haul it out of the water! If you had done so, I am certain that word would have gotten around before now."

"I didn't simply " _pull it out_ ", Seteth. It took a good amount of effort on my part. You can even ask Leonie since she saw me both reel it in and leave it next to the greenhouse. She’ll remember it, too, because she gave me an earful about leaving such a fish out as cat food- she only stopped because I cleaned off a few scales for her before I gave it to Fodie, so that she could tell my father what had happened. I’m sure she still has them if you’d like to see proof.”

A bit annoyed, Byleth leaned into the space between them, frowning up at Seteth, “Besides that, I make a point to avoid lying, so please don't insult me as such again.”

After a moment, the advisor nodded, “I apologize for my blunt words. You have not given me reason to suspect you of lying yet, and so my disbelief was unfounded. In light of such a story, however, I am sure you will understand if I speak with young Miss Pinelli to see if you truly did catch an ancient fish.”

The younger man relaxed, his facial features visibly softening, “Of course, Seteth. I know that it sounds like quite an unusual tale, but all I ask is that you give me the benefit of the doubt before writing me off as a liar. I’ll let Leonie know that I told you about it.”

“That is a fair request, and I shall certainly endeavor to remember it. Now that I think about it, does Jeralt know that you gave your legendary catch to a cat?"

Byleth suddenly became very interested in the kitten nestled in Seteth’s arms, choosing not to respond.

"I’m taking that to mean, "no"."

The professor sighed and looked back up at him, "He was already terribly pleased about my fishing prowess, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that part. I have already asked Leonie not to tell anyone else besides my father about it, and even then I had to make sure he didn’t mention it either. I already have a full-time teaching position, and I like to fish to relax. The last thing I want is a bunch of people asking me for bait and reeling tips and trying to watch me as I fish, so would you keep your silence as well?"

He looked so anxious that Seteth couldn’t help but reassure him, “As someone else that finds a sense of peace while holding a fishing pole, do not worry- your secret is safe with me."

Relieved, the shorter man nodded, "Thank you. I am grateful, and trust that you’re a man of your word as well. Now, we were talking about something else before we got on the subject of using rare fish as cat food- what was it?”

His words reminded Rhea's advisor why he was at the stables in the first place. "Ah! I had almost forgotten. Your month's allowances, if you would be so kind as to grab the bag from my belt, since my hands are otherwise preoccupied- no, not _that_ bag, _that_ one- yes, thank you. That has your monthly funds. Rhea did suggest that we accomodate for a bit more than your usual allowance, as your last report mentioned that some of your student's weapons were in dire need of repair from the local blacksmith-" Seteth rambled, suddenly aware of how closely the professor was standing as he untied the bag that was looped on his belt.

Attempting to keep his mind preoccupied, Seteth’s attention turned to the kitten that was still contentedly purring in his arms, now nodding her head slightly as she dozed off, feeling both safe and full of fish.

She was such a pretty kitten, with long white fur, a light pink nose, and green eyes so vivid that they reminded him of her namesake.

_Appropriately, if not sacrilegiously named._

Seteth shook his head slightly, banishing the thought. Perhaps the former mercenary was starting to have an influence on him.


End file.
